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100
What are the three phases that water exhibits in nature? Of these which has the highest kinetic energy level and which has the smallest?
What is Solid, Liquid, Gas. Solid has lowest kinetic energy level, Gas has highest kinetic energy level.
100
This is the temperature at which condensation takes place and is used as a measure of moisture content.
What is Dew point temperature
100
What are the requirements for condensation?
What is Condensation nuclei, a cooling mechanism, and nearly saturated air.
100
This occurs when cool dry air settles over a warm, moist surface.
What is steam fog.
100
Low clouds are those that form from the surface up to 2,000 meters. Low clouds include:
What is stratus, stratocumulus, and nimbostratus.
200
The energy required to convert ice into water is called the
What is latent heat of fusion
200
This is is the ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to its saturation point. Often is defined as the amount of water vapor in the air to "how much it can hold" at a given temperature
Relative Humidity
200
Cloud that forms near the ground.
What is fog
200
These clouds appear as wispy thin veils or detached filaments composed mostly of ice. Strong winds aloft often create the fibrous ice trails which tend to curl at their ends. These clouds with hooked filaments are sometimes called "mare's tails". They are associated with an approaching warm front.
What is Cirrus clouds
200
These clouds appear as a uniform dark-gray layer of clouds covering the entire sky. They often form along warm fronts and can give way to nimbostratus as the front approaches your location. These clouds may also form by the lifting of a fog bank.
What is Stratus
300
There are three very important requirements for evaporation to take place what are they?
What is 1) available energy, 2) available water, and 3) a vertical moisture gradient ( high humidity at surface and low humidity above)
300
A parcel of air is uplifted when it initially gains heat from the surface causing convective uplift. Describe this process.
When the air is warmed by the surface it will expand and become less dense relative to air that surrounds it. Being less dense than the air that surrounds it, the air becomes buoyant and begins to rise.
300
List and define the four uplift mechanism that create saturated conditions.
What is Convection - Uplift of air by warming it. Convergence - Uplift of air when it converges into an area of low pressure. Orographic - Uplift of air caused by mountains. Frontal - Uplift caused when two unlike air masses collide causing the warmer, less dense air to rise.
300
These clouds are a transparent, whitish veil of cloud that usually covers much of the sky. Sometimes they are so transparent that you can barely see them. They often create a halo around the sun or moon. They thicken and grade into altostratus clouds with the approach of a warm front.
What is Cirrostratus
300
These clouds appear as lumpy, low lying clouds that cover much of the sky. They form patches or rows of clouds with some blue sky between the individual cloud units.
What is Stratocumulus
400
This is the weight of water vapor per unit volume of air, usually measured in units of grams of water vapor per cubic meter of air. This is not often used to express the moisture content of air because it is sensitive to changes in both the temperature of the air and atmospheric pressure.
What is Absolute humidity
400
Because atmospheric pressure decreases with height, the parcel of air expands and cools. If the air cools to its dew point temperature saturation occurs and condensation begins. The elevation above the surface where condensation begins is called the
What is condensation level.
400
What is the difference between diabatic temperature change and adiabatic temperature change?
Diabatic temperature change: Temperature change caused by an exchange of heat between two bodies Adiabatic temperature change: of air occurs without the addition or removal of energy. That is, there is no exchange of heat with the surrounding environment to cause the cooling or heating of the air. The temperature change is due to work done on a parcel of air by the external environment, or work done by a parcel of air on the air that surrounds it. (compression or expansion)
400
These clouds appear as white patches made up of very small cells or ripples. The globules of cloud are arranged in a regular pattern and are commonly called "mackerel sky" for their similarity to the scales of a fish.
What is Cirrocumulus
400
These clouds are dark-gray layer of clouds that cover the entire sky. They are typically found along a warm front producing low intensity precipitation that lasts for several hours.
What is Nimbostratus - The prefix "nimbo" indicates that these clouds are precipitating.
500
This is measured as the weight of water vapor in the air per unit weight of air, which includes the weight of water vapor. Given that weight is not significantly influenced by temperature or atmospheric pressure, this is much more useful as a measure of humidity.
What is Specific humidity
500
This occurs when air enters a center of low pressure. As air converges into the center of a cyclone it is forced to rise off the surface. As the air rises it expands, cools, and water vapor condenses.
What is convergent uplift
500
Describe advection fog and radiation fog.
An advection fog forms when warm and moist air travels over a cool surface. Radiation fog forms during the evening under cloudless skies and with little to no wind.
500
Clouds found in the middle levels of the troposphere have the prefix alto attached to their name. What are they? Describe each.
What is altocumulus (form as large masses in patches or rows that may or may not merge with one another) and altostratus (are a formless layer of grayish cloud that cover most if not all the sky).
500
Cumulus-type clouds are those that primarily exhibit vertical development. Two of the more common types are the cumulus and cumulonimbus. Describe each.
Cumulus clouds appear as small, cotton ball-like clouds that generally form by convection. Cumulus are also called "fair-weather" clouds as pleasant conditions usually prevail while they are around. Cumulonimbus clouds form during very unstable conditions. They are the tallest clouds, and can reach to the stratosphere. Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with thunderstorms capable of generating locally high winds, hail, lightning, and torrential down pours.
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